Earning the nickname Rick the Fish, Rick Martin is well-known in East Grinstead, West Sussex, where he owns all three of the town’s fish and chip shops.
All within a five-mile radius, the journey to owning three businesses has been a 44-year labour of love – far from Rick’s original plans when he first purchased Harbour Fish Bar in December 2000 after years of running a mobile fish and chip business. In 2018, he expanded with Harbour Fish & Chips, and finally, in 2022, Trawlers was added to the family. Each opportunity arose unexpectedly, and each time Rick thought, why not?
“A lot of people said, ‘Oh, you bought Trawlers just to monopolise fish and chips,’ but it was never about that. For me, it was a matter of pride – going from nothing to owning all three shops in town.”
Interestingly, Rick’s three shops have thrived without cannibalising one another’s trade. “When we opened the second shop, Harbour Fish & Chips, I thought maybe we’d take trade from the first, but it didn’t. The quality of our food has always shone through, and it’s stayed with us,” Rick says proudly.
Challenges
Operating three shops comes with its challenges. The biggest by far, Rick says, is staffing – not just finding enough people but the right team members who will uphold his standards and run the business his way when he’s not there.
This is something Rick has tackled by investing in thorough staff training, prompted by Rick’s entry into the world of fish and chips when he was 16 years old. ”I didn’t really get the best training to start with. I was just sort of told, ‘There it is, get on with it’.”
It’s an experience that has stayed with Rick and he has made sure he doesn’t make the same mistake with his own staff. “When I’m training the potato boys to peel potatoes I explain to them how many bags of chips they should get from each bag of potatoes and how much it costs the business across the year if it’s less than that. Even the Kim wipes, I explain how each one costs 7p a sheet so that they understand the impact their actions have on the business – and it works!”
Though staffing is Rick’s biggest challenge, it’s also one of the greatest benefits of running three shops, as it allows flexibly to move team members around as needed. “If someone’s running late on a Thursday at Trawlers, for example, I can look at who I have at Harbour Fish Bar for example and think, OK I can leave the two strong ones there and bring a younger one down here to make up the numbers,” Rick explains.
Owning multiple shops provides Rick with significant buying power, which not only means better prices but the ability to plan and forecast more easily. “We’re looked after with better prices,” he says, “but it goes both ways. I know suppliers are under pressure too. My approach has always been, ‘You need to make a pound, and I need to make a pound,’. I’ve always said to my suppliers from the beginning to give me the best price you can do because I don’t want to be bartering back and forth. That way I can set my stall out. I can say, right, that’s what we can charge, and that’s the portion size we’re giving.”
Younger crowd
To keep the businesses running as streamlined as possible, Rick has kept the menus and equipment fairly consistent across all three shops, with the exception of Harbour Fish & Chips, where chicken has been added to attract a younger crowd.
“I looked at my shops and noticed that on Friday nights I wasn’t seeing the youngsters in the queues getting their sausages and chips like I did, say, 20 years ago. The average age now of my customers is probably 30 onwards and that’s because the youngsters are going for items such as chicken and burgers.”
With Harbour Fish & Chips located near several factories and a large school, Rick decided the demographic would be perfect for selling Southern Fried Chicken.
“It works, it really does,” says Rick. “It works hand in hand with fish and chips because you are bringing in mixed customers: mum and dad who come in for fish and chips, and kiddies who want fried chicken. We’re able to offer so many different options with combo meals. Families love meals that they can share these days.”
Rick’s success is not just about business. He is deeply committed to giving back to the community, running charity events to donating to local food banks. “Customers don’t say, oh, it’s Hungry Horris monopolising everything, they see that I give back to the community and they appreciate that.”
Just recently Rick provided 166 free meals, something he does five or six times a year. Rick’s suppliers often pitch in too, with donations of potatoes and fish to support these causes. “It’s nice to be in a position to give but I’m only able to do that because of the hard work I have put in.”
Looking to the future, Rick is open to expanding but is also cautious. “Could I open more shops? Yes, but not in East Grinstead. There’s just not another £10,000 a week in this town to be spent on fish and chips. And today you need to be taking that sort of money. You simply can’t survive on taking £5,000 a week anymore.”
Rick also believes the government has a key role to play in helping promote growth and encouraging business to invest. In particular, Rick is a passionate advocate for reforming VAT, which he sees as a major burden for small businesses. He proposes a system whereby the current VAT threshold of £90,000 is abolished and a flat rate of around 10% applied from the first pound spent.
”It creates a level playing field, it brings everybody into the game and means we can invest in our shops, in our equipment and keep our high streets alive,” he says. “Our shops can look like your McDonald’s and your Burger Kings, you know the nice, fancy, lit-up shops outside.
“We could reduce the price of our fish and chips, we could pay our staff more. During Covid, when VAT was temporarily reduced to 5%, we saw a real difference. It provided us with a bit of breathing space. That 15% in VAT we were saving we were able to invest in things like click and collect, deliveries and improving our premises which, in turn, drove customer spending.”
If the government doesn’t do something soon, Rick is fearful of what it could mean for the fish and chip industry and high streets in general. He adds: “If I hadn’t bought the third shop here, it would have closed it. Nobody else would have bought it. And while I get it when people say ‘let the little shops close, there’s more in it for us then’, it’s not the right way to look at it because that’s another shop shut, leading to empty high streets and a downwards spiral.”
Rick hopes the government will step in to support small businesses, but for now, he’s proud of how far he’s come. His journey is a true testament to hard work, passion, and a strong sense of community. “I’m proud of where I’ve got to,” he says. “I don’t say that very often, but I am. It hasn’t been easy, but it’s been worth it.”
